US beef off menu as trade war hits Beijing's US-style eateries

At Home Plate BBQ, an American-style restaurant in Beijing, staff are reprinting menus. The US-China trade war means American beef, once the star ingredient, will soon be off the table.

- JOSH ARSLAN ELLA CAO

Home Plate’s beef, previously sourced entirely from the US, is increasingly Australian. The restaurant uses about 7 to 8 tonnes of beef brisket each month, and when the US meat in the freezers is used up in a few weeks, the southern-style BBQ restaurant will only serve meat from Australia.

US beef is one of thousands of casualties in the trade war between the world’s largest trading partners. Even before the battle began, US beef was expensive. Beijing’s 125% retaliatory tariffs, on top of the existing 22%, made it unaffordable.

“It's essentially just made it very hard for us to continue using US beef,” said Home Plate’s operations director, Charles de Pellette.